The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-05-14
PRAYER AND SCIENCE.
BY Rev. WILLIAM TUCKER, d. d.
Mount Gilead, o.

The teaching of the Bible on the SUBJ
ject Of prayer is very clear. "Ask and
it shall be given you; seek and ye shall
find. The prayer of faith shall save
the sick-the fervent effectual prayer
of the righteous availeth much" This
is the teaching, what is the history?
Hezekiah prayed, and ten years were
added to his life. Elijah prayed for
rain and it came. These are presented
in the Bible as historical facts.
The great law of prayer is this: We
receive blessings because we ask for
them. This is universal law, and
has been practically applied among all
people, and during mans entire social
and religious history upon earth. There
is no method or means for the attain.
ment of blessings more common, more
| universal or more reliable, than asking
for them. Millions of the human race
have no other means of securing either
the necessities or the comforts of life.
Everything is given for the asking,
Love, sympathy, friendship, confidence,
credit, help, assistance, instruction,
food, raiment, protection, reconcilia-
ton, salvation. All these blessings are
given to men, women and children
every day in every family home, school
room, business house, and workshop
in answer to prayer, or because they are
asked for This brings prayer under a
general law and makes it a means
of universal blessing. 1t does not
change its character as an expression
Of our need, and cry for help when it
is addressed to God. If God exists as
personal being, it is rational to apply
to him the same law we apply to all
other persons. Hence Mr.. Frothing-
ham says: ''If we admit the person
ality of God, there can be no valid OBJ
lection urged to prayer as means of
securing blessings"
The teaching of the Bible on the duty
and efficacy of prayer is only recogniz-
ing the existence of universal law
which men practically apply in their
intercourse with each other, and which
may be as nationally applied in our re-
lations to God. If prayer moves man,
as it evidently does, there is no reason
why it should not move God. If it
moves the human father there is no
reason why it should not move the
divine Father.
The influence of prayer upon the
earthly Unite father shows it will in
fuence the heavenly Infinite Father.
This truth the Bible reveals and thus
shows its harmony with the analogies
Of nature, and the constitution of man.
Prayer is perfectly natural to man.
1t has been practiced in some form by
all nations in all ages. All men, in
hours of danger, when ruin threatens
to engulf them, instinctively cry to
God for help. When conscious of their
weakness and ignorance, and sensible
of their danger and dependence they
naturally seek his aid.
There is in man an intuitive con-
viction that God will answer pray
er, and that by it, as a means, we re-
ceive divine as well as human help.
This conviction is natural and univer-
sal, and constantly reveals itself in sea-
sons of want and danger. If mans
nature is true this conviction must be
true; if mans nature is reliable this
conviction must be trustworthy. This
subjective conviction points to an OBJ
jective fact-this felt want of the f.
mite points to the fullness of the inf
nite-this human demand is evidence
of the existence Of divine supply. The
voice of God in man is thus found to
agree with the voice of God in nature
and the Bible, and all combine in pro-
claiming the duty, power and efficacy
of prayer. Men should pray because
prayer prevails with God. The func-
tion of Science is to explain phenom-
ena, and give rational solution of
natural facts. What hypothesis will
explain the universal practice of petit
tion among men, but one that recog-
nizes the fact that prayer is natural and
its answer is provided for in the divine
government of nature.
History and experience confirm the
teaching of the Scriptures on this sub
ject. In Biblical history, religious BIZ
ography and Christian experience the
evidence of the objective as we'll
as the subjective efficacy of prayer
is conclusive. Thousands of men and
women testify from their own exper-
fence of its power, and thousands of
cases are given of its success. The
induction of facts by which we estab-
lish the law of prayer in the spiritual
world is as wide and con elusive as that
by which we establish the laws of life
in the natural world.
1t thus rests upon satisfactory evil
dence, and cannot be set aside without
rejecting as false the experimental and
historical evidence upon which it rests,
and to do that would make it impossi-
bic for us to prove anything. The rea-
soning here is inductive, and the method